She Ain't Mine - Chapter Three
by UltimateBethylFicList
Summary: My contribution to the Bethyl Round Robin story, She Ain't Mine. The full story is available under She Ain't Mine by CommunityStory.


"But Daddy, we don't know these men. Why are you letting them take Beth and me into the woods?"

"It's just for a little while Maggie, until we can figure out what happened," Hershel said, as he was running from room to room to grab supplies. Shawn had collapsed shortly after he had run into the house, his skin burning up by the minute. Annette was sitting with him in his room, trying to keep pressure on his wound, while Hershel was grabbing some medical supplies.

"Daddy, we need to stick together in all this,"

"Margaret, we all have jobs to do. Mine is to help your brother and Patricia. Yours is to look after your sister. You have your cell phone and your 9mm. Those boys give you any trouble; you do what you have to do,"

Beth sat out on the porch, listening to the conversation between her father and her sister. Everyone went into such a panic when Shawn walked in. Otis, immediately running out the door to check on his wife; Hershel and Annette going to Shawn to check out the wound; Maggie grabbing some towels from the linen closet to soak up the blood. Beth sat frozen at the table looking between Merle and Daryl. They both had an uneasy look to them, and the silent conversation they were having with themselves, could only mean they didn't want to be there any longer.

Once Shawn had collapsed, it seemed like time stood still. Everyone stopped what they were doing and just looked to one another. Was this what they were talking about on the news? Could this just be some random sickness that had taken hold of him? Hershel looked to Daryl and asked him for a hand with Shawn to bring him upstairs to his room. Annette started to cry, silently praying that her son would be okay. Maggie held onto her mother and forced her to keep walking up the stairs.

Beth sat there alone with Merle, not wanting to make eye contact. She noticed some blood on the floor and grabbed one of the towels Maggie had brought down to start cleaning up the mess.

"Well, this wouldn't be the first time I've left a place with blood all over the floor," stated Merle, shoving another piece of food into his mouth. Beth just glared at him. She was raised to be respectful and kind, and right now, she just wanted to punch him in the face. They heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Daryl, Maggie and Hershel all seemed to be in a panic.

"His fever is getting higher, it isn't safe for you girls to be here. We don't know what it is."

"And sending us to Otis', where his wife bit Shawn, is a better place to go?" Maggie rebutted.

"Daddy, it isn't safe there. We can't go there," Beth finally spoke up.

"You can't stay here, at least not until we get Shawn fixed up,"

"They can come with us," spoke a shy, manly voice. When Hershel, Maggie, and Beth turned around, they saw it was Daryl who spoke.

"What the hell were you thinkin', telling the doc that we would take his daughters to our cabin?" Asked Merle, slapping his brother in the back of the head.

"We owe em'," Daryl replied. Merle started pacing around the front yard, trying to keep his voice down.

"This is all your fault, you know that? You wanted to bring the dog here, you wanted to get it fixed up,"

Daryl just stayed silent, knowing his brother was right. "If somethin' goes wrong, it's on you."

Daryl turned and looked to the porch where Beth sat. True, he didn't know this girl or her family, but right now nothing was making sense.

Beth sat, staring at the brothers. Merle was pacing to and fro while Daryl just stood there, biting his thumbnail and taking short glances at her. You would think that a normal girl would be completely disgusted by these two deep wooded rednecks, but she saw something in them; maybe not so much Merle, but Daryl. There was softness to him, a kindness inside of his eyes. She knew that the moment she saw him with that dog in his arms.

She wasn't afraid to go with these men. If they were willing to save an innocent dog, then they could keep an eye out on two grown women.

Maggie came barrelling out of the house with a large duffel bag and Beth immediately stood up to follow her. Merle had stopped his pacing when the screen door slammed shut and he saw the brunette stalking towards him.

"No funny business, ya hear" she said, staring Merle down with her eyes. Merle smirked at her, knowing that he wouldn't have a problem putting her in her place if he needed to. "Beth, we're takin' the truck. Hop in, you boys can get in back,"

"I think I'll sit up front with you missy, need to give you directions an all."

"Whatever, let's go so they can help Shawn out." Maggie replied, throwing the truck door open and getting side.

Beth slowly walked to the back cab and got in, noticing Daryl got in the other side with her. He closed his door, and just stared at the window with a sigh. Beth let out her own sigh, knowing that this was going to be a long drive.

The drive surprisingly didn't take very long, no more than 20 minutes. The long dirt road these men lived on seemed to stretch for miles. Beth began to wonder if Merle was bringing them into a deserted part of the woods to kill them.

"Home Sweet Home," Merle whistled. Beth took a look out the front window to see an old rundown cabin, with overgrown grass surrounding it. She looked to Maggie for a reaction. Maggie just stared forward, not really believing such a place could still be considered habitable.

Daryl had opened his door and grabbed the duffel bag from between him and Beth. He walked straight up to the front door and let himself in. Beth reluctantly got out of the car and got to where Maggie was standing in front of their truck.

"You sure Daddy knows where this place is," Beth asked.

"He said he knew where the Dixons slept so I can only assume he meant this place."

"Everything is going to be fine Mags," Beth replied, grabbing her sister's hand. They shared a look of trust and made their way into the cabin.

Upon entering, they noticed the large amounts of beer cans and old newspapers, the thick layer of dust on all hard surfaces and a tv that had gun shots through the screen. Maggie looked around disgusted, but Beth, wanting to be the respectful houseguest, decided to give it a chance. She noticed Daryl fiddling with a small radio, trying to find a station.

"Nice place you got here,"

He looked up and gave her a little nod. "Can's down the hall if you need it," he added, turning back to the radio on the table. Beth sat down on a chair next to him.

"Trying to get more information, about what they're talkin' 'bout on tv?" she asked again. He simply nodded his head, trying to get a signal, which up here in the woods was almost impossible.

Merle was sitting on the couch, smoking a cigarette, trying to not pay attention to the two women in his kitchen right now. Maggie moving to stare out the window, into the woods.

"You guys have neighbors close by?" Maggie asked, keeping her eyes firmly planted outside.

"Bout 5 miles out," Merle replied.

"You guys get a lot of visitors out here?"She asked again.

"No one comes out here. This here is Dixon territory, nobody wants to come into this willingly," he replied again.

"Then who's that?"

Merle shot up, out of his seat to go stand by Maggie. He knew that no one came out here unless they were looking for something specific, like a fight. He scrunched his eyes a little to see a figure coming through the bush slowly.

"Who in the hell is that?" he asked, trying to look closer. Beth and Daryl both got up at this point to look out the big window and were horrified to see this bloody creature slowly walking towards the cabin. It's arm was missing a chunk and it's leg looks like it got mangled by a wild dog.

"I think you mean, what is that?" Beth stated, not wanting to know the answer.


End file.
